Performances of the Year: Eneko Llanos

In two championship wins, Eneko Llanos beat the who's who of the triathlon world.

Since the regional championship system was added to IRONMAN's schedule a few years ago, no athlete has ever enticed us with the idea of a "grand slam" until this year. Were it not for the fact that he was getting married a week after his big win at the Frankfurter Sparkasse IRONMAN European Championship, it might have been fun to try and entice the Spaniard to go after what we'll call IRONMAN's big four.

The races in Melbourne and Frankfurt featured the two most competitive fields in IRONMAN racing outside of Kona. How much fun would it have been to see Llanos head off to Mont-Tremblant to try and take the North American championship, then head to Kona to try and wrap up the first-ever slam. (Sounds like fun, right? How hard could it be?) But since both Llanos and his now-wife Ruth are about the nicest couple in triathlon racing, we'll forgive him that break he took to get married before his Kona build up. This year, anyway.

Llanos at a Glance:

-Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain on November 30, 1976. (37 years old)

-Finished 23rd at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia and 20th at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.

-Fifth at IRONMAN World Championship debut in 2006, runner-up in 2008.

- XTERRA World Champion (2009)

First IRONMAN win: IRONMAN Lanzarote, 2007. Llanos was the first Spanish man to win the race. His wife, Ruth, is from the island. The two met there in 2007.